Rescuing Rocket: Crews pull 'accident prone' horse out of well in Louisville

Officials: 'He is very cold and he has some injuries, but he is alive'

By Erica Meltzer, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
10/28/2013 08:37:31 AM MDT

LOUISVILLE -- Rocket is the kind of horse who would fall in a well, and he's also the kind of horse who would survive it, his owner says.

Brandi Brady described Rocket as "the most accident-prone horse I've ever known." As a young colt, he managed to get stuck under a trailer in his pasture, and, more recently, he got tangled in a fence.

Early Monday morning, Rocket was found trapped in a well on Brady's property at 10855 Empire Road after getting out of his enclosure. He was found around 7:30 a.m., but he may have been in the well since 10 p.m. Sunday, when water went out at the nearby house where Brady lives.

The 18-month-old horse was showing signs of hypothermia when rescue crews from North Metro Fire and Rescue, the Louisville Fire Department and the Boulder County Sheriff's Office pulled him out of the open vault.

Rocket was covered with blankets and given IV fluids as rescuers waited for a flatbed truck to transport him to the nearby barn, but he surprised everyone by standing up and walking to the barn under his own power.

Rocket had scrapes on his legs and head, but Brady said his injuries appeared minor.

"If it were any other horse, I would be worried, but I know that he'll get through it," she said.

Brady said it felt "great" to see Rocket stand up and walk after the ordeal in the well.

Another horse, Aspen, was brought into the pen in the barn to help calm Rocket, who was still shivering as the barn door was closed.

"The fact that that horse is walking away is a really good sign and a great relief to everyone here," said Sara Farris, a spokeswoman for North Metro.

Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Heidi Prentup said dispatchers received a call around 7:45 a.m. about a trapped animal on the property.

"It looks like he got out of his pen and fell into a well on the property," Prentup said of the horse. "He is very cold and he has some injuries, but he is alive."